Genotype-aggregated planting improves yield in Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus) due to self/non-self discrimination

Accumulating evidence indicates that plants are capable of self/non-self and kin/stranger discrimination. Plants increase biomass of and resource allocation to roots when they encounter roots of conspecific non-self neighbors, but not when they encounter self roots. Root proliferation usually occurs at the expense of reproductive investment. Therefore, if clonal crops are capable of self/non-self discrimination, spatially aggregated planting with seedlings of the same genotype may decrease root proliferation and produce a higher yield than planting without considering seedling genotype. To test this idea, we grew Helianthus tuberosus (Jerusalem artichoke) in pot and field conditions and examined self/non-self discrimination and the effectiveness of genotype-aggregated planting. Plants grown in self pairs allocated less to root biomass than plants grown in non-self pairs in both pot and field conditions; in field conditions, the self pairs produced 40% more tubers by weight than the non-...